Indian River Lagoon & Banana River
Capt. John Kumiski
September 20, 2005
Titusville - Saltwater Fishing Report
Spotted Tail Space Coast report 9/20
This week’s fishing report from Spotted Tail, updated 9/20/05
The water in the lagoon system is high and in most places dirty, making sight fishing problematical.
On the 13th I fished a lovely couple from Houston, Dave and Virginia Sissom, on a 3/4 day in the Indian River Lagoon. We started off at the power plants, where the ladyfish were very cooperative and the tarpon were not. After a couple of hours of this we went looking for redfish. We saw exactly eight, but Dave managed to catch one of them about 28 inches long on a gold Johnson Minnow. We also saw a couple dozen black drum. They showed no interest whatsoever in that spoon. We finished the day off by chunking with ladyfish for about 30 minutes, which yielded a 24 inch trout and about a dozen fat catfish.
On the 14th I tried the same drill with fly caster Daryl Hurd of Delaware. Again the ladyfish were cooperative and the tarpon were not. We saw fewer redfish and no black drum (same place) and didn't get another fish, a very slow 3/4 day.
On the 15th Shawn Healy and I did a marathon no motor zone trip by kayak. Shawn got the first fish on a Bass Oreno, a 12 pound crevalle. That pretty much opened the floodgates. Using various SexyFlies I got a four pound trout, and eight pound redfish, a garfish (!), a 12 pound crevalle, three tarpon, seven snook, and lots of ladyfish. I also got a nice trout and a couple of snook on a DOA Bait Buster and a new soft plastic popper called a Skip 'n' Pop. Although I saw some nice ones, all my snook were small ones. Shawn did at least as well. We also ran into my friend Barry Kent up there, and he also did very well. Shawn and I got back to my house at 7:30 PM, 14 hours after leaving.
On the 16th George Yarko and I tried the Banana River Lagoon. We found some ladyfish and trout working close to shore, but redfish remained elusive. I decided to go through the locks and out into the ocean. South of the Cocoa Beach pier we ran into a school of Spanish mackerel breaking on top, which we stayed with for a couple of hours. We caught numerous Spanish, a bluefish, and several crevalle and ladyfish, all on jigs. The action ended when the sea breeze came up.
Yesterday fly fisher Julian Strutt and I went to the Mosquito Lagoon. We found a big school of 5-6 pound crevalle, and caught four or five between us. Other than that we didn't see a thing other than mullet. I pulled the boat and we went to the Indian River Lagoon. We found four separate schools of slot reds and he got one fish from each of them, in spite of the solid 15 mph east wind. Three fish came on a chartreuse Clouser minnow, one on a black bunny booger.
Upcoming Events-
-September- I'll be holding a fly tying seminar at the BFFA in Melbourne on 9/20. Contact Ron Novitsky, 321.268.4541.
The annual Kids Fishing Day will be on 9/24. Please mark your calendar!
-October- I'll be presenting a slide show at the Palm Beach Shallow Water Show on October 15 and 16.
-One of the popular "Show and Tell" seminars is scheduled for Oct. 22 at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Details will be posted in September.
-I am scheduled to teach a Flats Fishing class at Brevard Community College, Cocoa, from 10/25 to 11/22. Call the school at 321.433.7530 to register.
-November- I am scheduled to teach a Saltwater Fly Fishing class on November 5th and 12th class at Brevard Community College, Cocoa. Call the school at 321.433.7530 to register. I will be tying flies at the International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, NJ on November 19 and 20.
Remember- life is short. GO FISHING!
Life is great and I love my work!!
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at [email protected], or call at 407 977 5207.
John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
member IRGA, FOWA
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